Apparatus for making v belts



y 1953 J. L,- FIHE ET AL 2,598,158

APPARATUS FOR MAKING V BELTS Filed Aug. 26, 1947 llllll' Illllllll Patented May 27, 1952 APPARATUS FOR MAKING V BELTS John L. Fihe, Akron, Ohio; and James W. Huff,

. Mercerville, N. J.,.assigno'rsto"1.he B. F. Good.- rich. Company, New York; N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 26, 1947, Serial'No'. 770,600

6 Claims. 1

fThis invention relatesto the manufacture of V-belts and isespecially useful in the manufacture of V-belt's having a layer of inextensible tension members.

belt.

the tension layer.

the Waner Patent No.

stantially no load.

taining the proper disposition of the cords due to the manufacture of V-belts.

of the belt fromassembly to cure, to avoid? :dis-

'tortion of the belt due to handling and storage between assembly andcure, to provide against distortion due to shrinkage of the tension mem- In the manufacture of V-belts it has been bers during the process 'of construction, and genfound desirable to provide a tension layer of suborally to provide greater belt life and uniformity stantially inextensible tension members, such as 'of performance. cords of cotton, nylon, or rayon, or metallic wires These and other objects will appear from the or wire cables located in'the outer wider portion following description and the accompanying of the belt,.and a body of resilient rubber or other drawings. rubber-like material inwardly of the tension Of the drawings, members to provide a compression portion of the v Fig. 1 is an axial sectional view of abuilding form with a belt thereon under construction and -;Heretofore, in the manufacture of such belts a supporting arbor, all constructed in accordance ituhas: been the practice to wind the resilient with and embodying the invention. rubber-like material for the compression portion Fig. 2 is a similar'view of the completely asof the belt about a collapsible drum, and then to sembled belt on the buil'ding'form removedfrom wind. thereupon the cords or wires for providing the supporting mandrel. v

Usually a drum of great axial Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a vulcanizing mold length has. been. provided and the materials have with the belts and building forms assembled been wound thereon throughout its extent and therein. then have been cut to provide separate belt bodies Fig; 4 is a perspective view of a section of the which after being individually enclosed by a covcompleted belt. ering of bias laid square woven rubberized fabric Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1' showing a are stretchedv about'molds such as the molds of modification of the belt and the building for-in.

1,748,626. Difficulties Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4showing a have heretofore been experienced in so manucompleted belt resulting from the use of the facturing V-belts, probably due to the fact that form of Fig. 5'. the tension material 10 during bly upon Fig; 7 is a sectional view similar to the upper the drum and during molding and vulcanization 3*. portion of Fig. 1 showing'the building form with of the be t as b S pp y soft, highly the belt thereon under construction to a larger deformable material of considerable depth in scale, other portions being broken away. more or less floating relation, and has been According tothe invention a belt is built upon readily displaced from its desired position both an individual former in-inside out condition and dur aSSemb1y and during ulcani at o ch as is retained upon the former duringvulca'nization, displacement of the tension material has remold members having mating mold cavities'for sulted in unequal strain upon individual tension receiving the former and the belt being provided members, some of which has been subjected to to completely confine the belt while itis vulheavy overloading while others have carried subcanized in reversed or inside out condition.

40 Referring to the drawings, the numeral l0 des- Ithas been proposed to form V-belts with a ignates an annular building form having" a layer of tension members arranged in a laterally smooth transversely straight periphery forsupbowed layer in which the tension members near porting a belt' during the building and curing the side driving faces would be'of less circumthereof. For convenience in building the belt, ference than the tension members therebetween. the building form-may be'supported from a: m- This presents even greater difliculties in maintatable spindle II by a suitable chuckyas for example by the removable flanges such as the fiow of the deformable material thereunder both peripherally shouldered discs l2, l3 "clamped to during assembly and vulcanization of the belts. each other by a nut I l threaded upon'the spindle The present invention has for an object to H, the building'form being clamped between the overcome the foregoing and other difiiculties in discs and seated upontheir shoulders. The

building form ll! is p'referably'of metal'and its Other objects are to provide accurate positionbelt supporting face is at least equal in width ing' of the tension members during assembly of to thewider or outer face of the desired belt.

the belt, to provide maintenance of dimensions To provide for seating the tension. members and other material accurately upon the building form, the discs l2, l3 are provided with flanges 12a, l3a, which extend radiallybeyond the peripheral face of the building form and defined therewith a shallow peripheral groove of substantially the desired width of the belts. The flanges 12a, l3a, are relatively thin so as not to be in the way of stitching tools used to form the covering material outwardly along the lateral faces of the belt. The discs l2, 43 may be clamped to the building form by any convenient means such as the nut l4 and spindle H.

The belt is built about the building form in inverted or reversed position. For this purpose a strip [5 of belt covering material, such as bias laid rubberized square woven fabric is first laid about the periphery of the form in centered relation thereto, and spliced thereabout. The tension material, such as cotton, nylon, or rayon cord, or metallic wire or cable is then laid under .tension about the cover material, preferably in a single layer of adjacent convolutions entirely across the face of the form Hi and between the flanges l2a, Ilia. As the form supports the tension members only through the cover fabric material, the cords or wires are readily laid in their desired positions between flanges I2a, [3a without flow or distortion of fiowable material thereunder or change of tension.

The compression portion [6 of the erably formed as an extruded strip of rubber- -like material of wedge-like cross-section and is laid about the form with its wider sideagainst the tension layer and then spliced in place. The margins of the cover are then formed, as by use of a stitching roller outwardly along the side driving faces and the narrow bottom face of the belt where its margins are preferably overlapped. This completes the assembly of the belt before vulcanization and the annular building form with the assembled belt thereon may be removed from the supporting spindle I! and may be stored if desired prior to vulcanization of the belt without distortion of the belt or shrinkage of its ma terial.

For curing or vulcanizing the belt, annular mating mold members 20, 2|, 22, 23, 24 ar provided having annular cavities formed therebetween for seating and receiving the annular building forms or rings I0 and the belts thereon in the position in which the belts were assembled. The rings ID with the belts thereon are assembled between the mold rings to 24 and are seated upon piloting portions 20a, 2 la of the mold rings for centering them and are subjected to heat and pressure to vulcanize the belts. This may be accomplished by placing the mold assembly in an open steam vulcanizer having a hydraulic ram for pressing the molds or by placing the molds between heated press platens and applying pressure thereto until vulcanization is complete.

After vulcanization of the belts, the rings 10 and the belts are removed from the mold plates and the belts are removed from the rings ID. The belts may then be turned inside out or reversed to bring the tension members to the outer side of the belt. To relieve compression of the inner part of the belt as a result of the reversal, the inner side of the belt may be notched by removing transverse portions of the rubber-like body of the compression portion from the belt.

Where it is desired to provide a belt with a belt is preftransversely arched layer of tension elements and a correspondingly arched outer face as in the belt of Fig. 6, an annular building form 40, shown in Fig. 5 is employed. The building form or ring 40 has a concave shallow channel 4| about its periphery corresponding in curvature to the desired contour of the belt surface. The fabric covering material is laid about the building form in the manner described in making the flattopped belt of Fig. 4. With this building form, as with the building form of Fig. 1, supporting discs 42, 43 are provided for seating and supporting it while the material is placed thereon and these discs have thin flanges 44, 45 extending radially beyond the peripheral face of the ring to serve in guiding the application of the tension material. To avoid sharp edges, the ring 49 is preferably made wider than the concave peripheral belt seat to provide cylindrical margins 46, 41 at each side thereof, and the flanges '44, 45am formed with inwardly ofiset margins 48, 49 overhanging the cylindrical margins.

The tension members are laid in place over the fabric cover and take the arched contour of the central portion of the building form. The belt is -then completed by applying the rubber-like material of the compression portion, forming the covering thereabout, and curing the belt on the building form between mold plates. After vulcanization the belt may be notched and turned inside out to bring its arched tension layer .to the outer face of the belt.

In the manufacture of either of the illustrated examples of V-belts, the contour of the ring building form determines accurately the position of the tension members in the finished belt and the relation of these tension members to the other parts of the belt is not disturbed thereafter dur' ing vulcanization of the belt, so that each tension element is in position to assume its desired load in use of the belt, resulting in high efiieiency and long belt life.

The ring building form, which is individual to each belt and supports it during all of the building, handling and vulcanizing operations, moreover greatly facilitates handling operations with; out iniurious distortion of the material.

Variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as it isv defined by the following claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for making an endless V-belt, said apparatus comprising an annular building form for building the belt individually, said form having a width substantially equal to the wider outer face of the desired belt and having between its marginal edges an outer peripheral molding face substantially coextensive in width with said width of the form for supporting such wider outer face of the belt in contact therewith during the building and vulcanizing operations, and mold members having piloting portions engageable with said building form for centering them therewith and having outwardly converging side faces disposable at said marginal edges of the form for receiving said form and belt and defining with the form a mold cavity of the desired belt shape inverted in crosssection.

2. Apparatus for making an endless V-belt having an outer face convex in cross-section, said apparatus comprising an annular building form for building the belt individually, said form having a width substantially equal to the wider outer face of the desired belt and having between its marginal edges an outer peripheral molding face substantially coextensive in width with said width of the form and of concave cross-sectional shape for supporting such wider outer face of the belt in contact therewith during the building and vulcanizing operations, and mold members having piloting portions engageable with said building form for centering them therewith and having outwardly converging side faces disposable at said marginal edges of the form for receiving said form and belt and defining with the form a mold cavity of the desired belt shape inverted in cross-section.

3. Apparatus for making an endless V-belt, said apparatus comprising an annular building form for building the belt individually, said form having a belt-supporting periphery of a width at least equal to the wider outer face of the desired belt and having between its marginal edges an outer peripheral molding face substantially coextensive in width with said width of the form for supporting such wider outer face of the belt in contact therewith during the building and vulcanizing operations, and a pair of removable flange members having piloting portions for concentrically aligning them with said building form and peripheral edges extending radially beyond said molding face of the building form at the margins thereof providing shallow shoulders for flanking a belt supported on the form in contact therewith while exposing the sides of the belt for manipulation during the building of the belt.

4. Apparatus for making an endless belt as defined by claim 3 in which the peripheral edges of the flange members radially beyond the periphery of the building form are of convex cross-section.

5. Apparatus for making an endless belt as defined by claim 3 in which the peripheral edges of the flange members radially beyond the periphery of the building form are provided with offset shoulders overlying the edges of said form a relatively slight amount.

6. Apparatus for making an endless V-belt having an outer face convex in cross section, said apparatus comprising an annular building form for building a belt individually, said form having a width at least equal to the wider outer face of the desired belt and having between its marginal edges an outer peripheral molding face substantially coextensive in width with said width of the form having a peripheral groove of arched cross-section corresponding to the REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,354,738 Gates Oct. 5, 1920 1,805,032 Berwick May 12, 1931 1,813,878 Gerstenslager July 7, 1931 1,969,087 Freeman Aug. 7, 1934 1,971,697 Schieren Aug. 28, 1934 2,194,833 Nassimbene Mar. 26, 1940 2,4=4=2,037 Carter et al. May 25, 1948 

